Five cool camping essentials

1. A torchThe importance of having a good torch cannot be stressed enough. It gets awfully dark in a remote field and so a torch is an essential tool, particularly when trying to find the loo. The wind-up variety are a good bet, as you don’t need to worry about batteries running down.

2. A decent pillowI can put up with pretty much anything as long as I know there’ll be a squishy pillow waiting for me at the end of the day. Children, especially, like the comfort of their own pillow when camping.

3. Wellington bootsEven in the summer it can get rather muddy in an English field. Hunter offer a colourful selection of children’s Wellington boots as do Cath Kidston and Boden.

4. MusicA wind-up radio or an iPod with portable speakers are great extras to have when you’re camping. I find stories on an iPod ensure nervous children will relax enough to get to sleep. Or, alternatively, you can sing them to sleep with camp songs around the fire.

5. A good sleeping bagNylon sleeping bags, to me at least, are the height of discomfort. Cotton-lined ones are far cosier while silk sleeping bags are surprisingly cheap and also extremely comfortable.

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Thanks a lot for telling me about these Five cool camping essentials. I'll head onto outdoorfederation and make a purchase from there as soon as possible. I'm sure that they will have something to assist me.